Business
Montana’s Voke Tab fuels athletes around the globe
Published
9 years agoon
Posted By
Outlaw PartnersBy Tyler Allen Explore Big Sky Senior Editor
Kalen Caughey was competing as an 18-year-old mogul skier a decade ago when he hatched the idea for an energy tablet he could carry in his pocket. After ten years of research, product development and guerrilla marketing, Caughey now has elite athletes taking his Voke Tabs to the far corners of the planet.
The Voke Tab ambassador team includes the likes of mountaineer Conrad Anker, adventurer and National Geographic photographer Jimmy Chin, and professional skier Sage Cattabriga-Alosa. The team also consists of athletes like Bozeman’s Tyler Bradt, a kayaker who’s currently sailing around the world base jumping and seeking first descents of waterfalls.
As an active teenager, Caughey was just looking for a convenient way to get a boost before bashing down mogul runs.
“I was a big coffee drinker, but it didn’t work taking it on the hill,” Caughey said, noting that coffee also caused him to duck into the woods to relieve himself before competitive runs. “That led me down this path of making tablets with a few ingredients you want, but not what you don’t.”
Caughey learned to make candy that winter, and the following summer he employed the help of his father, a biochemist at the National Institutes of Health’s Rocky Mountain Lab. The elder Caughey had access to thousands of pages of scientific literature, which his son pored over looking for natural ingredients that would give users of his fledgling product a mental boost.
He ordered organic guarana berries from Brazil and started experimenting with different recipes before moving to Bozeman the following fall to attend Montana State University. The first product Caughey packaged was called “Energia,” and he says he owes much of his success to the Bozeman community.
“Hundreds of people in Bozeman contributed to product development, trying the tablets and taking them out on the ski hill,” Caughey said. “That first Energia tablet was finished in a South Hedges dorm room.”
In 2008, Caughey changed the name to Voke Tab and re-launched the product with his brother Evan, who is a self-taught graphic designer. Together they designed the tin’s red lion logo that was inspired by Hamilton’s Roaring Lion Canyon near where they grew up. The Caughey brothers and Hood River, Ore.-based Ryan Huggins are the company’s only full-time employees.
“We’re a really scrappy start-up company,” Caughey said. “We’re just trying to get by to make ends meet, expand our distribution and get the word out.” Having a team of brand ambassadors like Conrad Anker has spread that word on a global scale.
“For portable, performance energy there’s really nothing on the market that matches it,” said Anker, who’s also the company’s vice president of marketing. Anker was introduced to Voke Tab in 2012 by his son Max Lowe and has used them ever since. He took the tablets up Mount Everest on a 2012 climb – done in alpine style without supplemental oxygen – to commemorate the first American summit expedition in 1963.
“The sherpas loved it,” he said, noting the Nepalese porters called Voke Tabs “legs no tired,” and began taking them as a ritual before negotiating the perilous Khumbu Icefall.
“Rather than having to brew coffee, the caffeine is in an easily accessible form,” Anker said of the benefits to climbing with Voke. “When you’re seeking it, you have it right there [in your pocket].”
Caughey spends nine months on the road living out of his camper and marketing Voke at trade shows, bike and ski shops, and special events around the western U.S. Voke Tabs are now sold at more than 130 retailers from Telluride, Colo. to Seattle, Wash. and mountain communities in between.
Caughey says the company has come a long way in a decade, but getting product into the hands of athletes is still Voke Tab’s recipe for success.
The Outlaw Partners is a creative marketing, media and events company based in Big Sky, Montana.
Upcoming Events
march, 2024
Event Type :
All
All
Arts
Education
Music
Other
Sports
Event Details
Children turning 5 on or before 9/10/2024:
more
Event Details
Children turning 5 on or before
9/10/2024: Kindergarten
enrollment for the 2024-2025 school year can be completed by following the
registration process now.
Children
born on or after September 11, 2019: 4K enrollment is now open for
families that have a 4-year-old they would like to enroll in our program for
the 2023-2024 school year. Please complete the 4K Interest Form to
express your interest. Completing this form does not guarantee enrollment into
the 4K program. Enrollment is capped at twenty 4-year-olds currently
residing within Big Sky School District boundary full time and will be
determined by birth date in calendar order of those born on or after September
11, 2018. Interest form closes on May 30th.
Enrollment now is critical for fall preparations. Thank you!
Time
February 26 (Monday) - April 21 (Sunday)
Event Details
My Barking Dog is a nightmare comedy
more
Event Details
My Barking Dog is a nightmare comedy that tells the story of Toby and Melinda, two lonely people whose lives are forever changed the night they encounter a starving coyote at their apartment building. Over time they grow to expect him, leaving ritual offerings to entice the coyote every night. Toby and Melinda forge a connection over this visitor and share curiosity and concern about his presence in the city. The coyote expands their world–until, one night, their world is shattered. Their lives are pushed suddenly into uncharted territory, sending them on a surreal odyssey that changes their city–and the world–forever.
Directed by LX Miller. Starring Max Schneider and Denise Hergett
Verge Theater is continuing their mission to provide accessible theater to our community. Tickets for My Barking Dog are Pay What You Wish with a suggested price of $35. Audience members are offered the opportunity to select the price point that is comfortable for them when purchasing tickets.
My Barking Dog runs March 15-17, 22-24, 28-30
Performances on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays begin at 7:00 p.m., with Sunday matinees offered at 3:00 p.m.
Suitable for ages 16 . No animals are harmed in the staging of this production.
Tickets are available online at www.vergetheater.com
Time
15 (Friday) 7:00 pm - 30 (Saturday) 8:30 pm
Location
Verge Theater
Event Details
Saturday, March 23rd 6:00-8:00pm We will combine the heart-opening powers of cacao with the transcendental powers of breathwork and sound. Together, these practices will give us the opportunity for a deep
more
Event Details
Saturday, March 23rd 6:00-8:00pm
Time
March 23 (Saturday) 6:00 pm - April 23 (Tuesday) 8:00 pm
Location
Santosha Wellness Center
169 Snowy Mountain Circle
Event Details
Thursday of the Lord’s Supper Mass St. Joseph Catholic Mission
Event Details
Thursday of the Lord’s Supper Mass
St. Joseph Catholic Mission
Time
(Thursday) 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm